Particle fishing for Bream and Tench
Posted: Sunday, January 06, 2008
by Gary Knowles
http://www.trevstackle.com
Like a lot of anglers late spring and early summer mark the start of my angling season and at this time of year I like to set myself new challenges or goals that I would like to achieve in the coming months ahead. But it's no good awaiting the onset of summer before starting your campaign. If these personal targets are to be realised, then now is the time to make plans, to draw up a plan of attack and like any strategy, be it related to business or pleasure it always pays to do your homework.
Falling nicely into this category come the Cheshire meres, not the easiest venues in the country, but certainly amongst the most beautiful and atmospheric venues that I have ever fished. There are also a handful of large pits formed by sand excavation within a reasonable distance of my home and these two types of venue that have become the mainstay of my summer campaigns.
But where do you start. Well, first of all by keeping your ear to the ground. I'm not saying that you believe everything you hear, on the contrary, you must take everything you get told with a pinch of salt. For example a lot of carp anglers don't weigh bream, for some apparent reason they simply have no interest in these magnificent creatures and tales of nuisance' double figure fish that keep them up through the night generally means a shoal of seven pounders passed by. Likewise the matchmen who rarely see bream above two or three pounds see an eight pound fish as one of "at least twelve". However, some of the whispers you hear are undoubtedly true and my ears do tend to prick up is when people mention ounces.
"Had a twelve pounder last week" cuts no ice with me but when I'm told of an eleven-two or a ten-fouteen, then I'm starting to get interested, because that actually sounds like it has been weighed rather than estimated.
Once you have decided that the water has both the potential and the ambience you are looking for, you can begin to make your own investigations. Armed with a plumbing rod, pad and a pair of binoculars I try to visit the venue as often as possible and at various times. Not only does this give me an indication of any sub-surface features, but it will also help to give an idea of the amount of angling pressure the water is receiving. I like to get the plumbing over with as soon as I arrive, slowly moving around the lake mapping any contours or weedbeds located into a small notebook. Then, about an hour before dusk I begin to scan the lake for signs of moving fish. Obviously if bream or tench are showing regularly in one spot then your first point of attack is quickly identified, but sometimes the fish's behaviour can be quite erratic. Perhaps they will begin to roll in one particular area at dusk; whilst in another spot activity is usually seen at first light. Quite often this will be dictated by the wind direction or even by angling pressure, but these things will only become apparent as you spend a greater amount of time on the bank. It may seem strange to some, but in all honesty I actually find this part of the campaign just as enjoyable as the fishing itself and all the effort that you put in at this embryonic stage will not only reap significant regards but will add to the feeling of satisfaction when you finally put that big fish on the bank.
Swim selection will be guided by many things, for example if bream are to be the target then I will select an area devoid of weed as bream seem to loathe the stuff. If, as on many meres and the rich sand pits I fish this is impossible due to the prolific weed growth, then I try and pinpoint the largest clear patches that I can find. Once located,
I begin to trickle a selection of particles into these spots as I continue the preliminary investigations.
If however tench are the chosen quarry, then area's close to the densest weedbeds are intentionally chosen and quite often in the case of the sand excavations these are in the deeper margins, making prebaiting a simple process.
Once the species, venue and swims have been selected then you need to settle upon the bait and tactics which you intend to employ. On venues such as a Cheshire mere, where you are fishing for a low density of large fish I've found it rarely pays to switch from one method or swim to another on a weekly basis. Once you have decided upon a particular line of attack you need to ease yourself into the water slowly, whilst giving your bait a chance to work. Anglers who have fished this kind of water will instantly know what I mean by this, as although all the preparation undoubtedly helps, it does take a while for you to get a feel' for a venue.
On a water receiving little angling pressure I have found mass baiting with particles has few peers, and that there is no finer particle than the humble maggot. Well, I say maggot but for the actual baiting I like to use the smaller sized pinkies, as there are probably more than twice as many per pint than the ordinary grub and the theory behind me using them is twofold. These being that a larger amount of freebies will take a longer amount of time for the fish to devour, thus keeping them in the vicinity of the hookbait for as long as possible and secondly, that in my preferred colour of red, there is more than a passing resemblance to one of the favourite foods of both tench and bream the bloodworm. Hopefully regular feeding will fool the resident fish that they have located a rich bloodworm bed and will begin to frequent the area with increased regularity.
The quantity of feed used will vary depending on the venues stock density but I generally use between four to six pints of pinkies for an overnight session. As well as this, when bream fishing, a dozen or more balls of brown/red crumb laced with CSL pellets and flavoured corn will be introduced to the swim. If tench are the chosen quarry then the quantity of groundfeed will be halved and a generous amount of hemp added to the mix. Both mixes will be wetted using water liberally doused with molasses, a much underused (and remarkably cheap!) additive that most species of fish seem to love.
Terminal tackle for this kind of fishing is quite straightforward. When bream fishing I use 6lb mainline and a tried and tested two hook rig, each hooklink being approximately 8"-10" long and made up from 4.6lb mono to which a size 14 spade end hook is attached. These are spaced around two feet apart with a 1.25oz lead positioned around 18" past the bottom hook. If dense weed is a problem then I revert to a single hook rig to ensure a trailing hook cannot snag weed when retrieving fish. Bait is invariable three red maggots although a redworm tipped with maggot has also produced a good number of fish as has flavoured sweetcorn.
For the harder fighting tench I step up the hookink to 6lb and use an 8lb mainline, hook sizes although largely dependant on bait, do not necessarily increase but are of the stronger forged variety such as the Korum C3. Unless the swim I am fishing is totally devoid of weed I always fish single hook rigs for tench due to their unerring ability to find any patches of weed between you and the baited area.
Although this is an extremely successful approach it should by no means be your only plan of attack. I recently had my eyes opened when a friend confided to me his run of success when using the method feeder for tench and bream, especially on waters that contain carp. Although it took a little time for me to accept the horror of a hair rig for bream, it soon became apparent that on waters receiving a lot of pressure from the carp lads the bream had switched onto boilies big time. To take advantage of this situation I replaced my traditional light bobbins set on a long drop with short, heavy, carp style indicators and changed my baiting approach to match that of the resident carp fishermen. Fishing mini boilies over a mixture of trout pellets, CSL pellets and boilie crumb, the results were astounding with tench and bream to over double figures giving unmissable drop back bites to the scaled down carp tactics - another lesson learned.
So, if there is a venue nearby that you are thinking of trying this coming season then now is the time to do get out there and do your homework. Don't think of this as a chore, think of it as part of the whole angling experience. Enjoy the preliminaries that go with a new campaign and come summer, you will be reaping the rewards you deserve.
by Gary Knowles...www.carp-fishing-info.co.uk
It is not just about Carp fishing, you can catch large fish of different types in different waters.
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